


A:TLA Oneshots

by orphan_account



Category: Avatar the Last Airbender - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-26
Updated: 2008-12-26
Packaged: 2017-12-12 23:44:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/817428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Title self-explanatory</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Fifty Sentences for Toph/Zuko

**Author's Note:**

> This is a compilation of all the Avatar the Last Airbender fanfiction I have written, record-keeping so I can delete my LJ.

Pairing: Toph/Zuko  
Rating: pg  
Summary: Title is sort of self explanatory.  
Warnings: none, I think. prompts are out of order.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing.  
Notes: This is the theme set from [](http://1sentence.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://1sentence.livejournal.com/)**1sentence**. It was fun. XD Also, I am aware some of these are not really sentences. I don't care.  <33 It assumes Zuko joins up with the gang.

  
_#23 - Fire_  
Zuko thinks the fire that once burned his face burns in him still; once he used that flame to drive his hunt for the Avatar - Zuko thinks it's funny that now he uses it to hunt with him.

_#22 - Journey_  
Often, Zuko wonders if they really know where they're going, but they seem so confident and easy-going and innocent, that he just decides not to bring it up.

_#39 - Overwhelmed_  
The watertribe siblings can't trust him, and when they make camp, they wage a quiet war over who gets to be farthest away from him; the Avatar isn't much better, but at least sometimes the younger (older?) boy gives him a friendly smile that makes Zuko hope; Toph, on the other hand, gets right in his face, all the time, and he's not really sure if that's better or not.

_#33 - World_  
To Toph, the world is her playground, and now that she can, she intends to explore it as much as she possibly can, so she wakes everyone up in the mornings before it's really decent to be awake ("Come on people, the Avatar's not going to restore peace to the world by sleeping! Up, up, up!") and when Zuko tries to sleep in, earth begins to attack him, and he decides that it's easier just to wake up.

_#37 - Lies_  
Azula always lies; Toph doesn't and the truth she hits him with is bitter and harsh, but he finds it oddly reassuring.

_#21 - Silence_  
It's not often that the group is silent and Zuko relishes in it and a moment later, Toph kicks Sokka 'by accident' (he suspects she got bored with the silence) and Appa once again has to compensate for the movement on his back.

_#24 - Strength_  
He has to admit, he underestimates her, but the day they spar and Zuko is left sore and battered on the ground is the day he realizes she's stronger than him.

_#11 - Midnight_  
By midnight, no matter what, Toph is asleep and Zuko looks down at her sleeping face and wonders how someone so young got pulled into the war.

_#42 - Talk_  
There are nights when Zuko can't sleep and Toph keeps him company ("You're so noisy," she mutters, "Can't sleep if you're pacing.") and they talk and Zuko is pleasantly surprised to find they can have a good conversation.

_#01 - Ring_  
Zuko hates arguing with Toph because she stubbornly sticks to her own opinions and he feels like he's foolishly going in circles.

_#16 - Cover_  
Sokka screams like a scared little girl, to Toph's amusement, as hail begins to fall ("We're going to be bludgeoned to death!") and though Zuko makes it obvious that he thinks Sokka is a complete fool, he's secretly relieved when Toph creates an earthtent to cover them.

_#47 - Highway_  
"Princess," Toph says, and manages to convey all her annoyance into that single word dripping with disdain, "We're fugitives; taking the highly _public_ highway is the dumbest thing we could do."

_#14 - Music_  
When the head of the town invites them to a ball, everyone dances and has a good time, except for Toph, who stands quietly off to the side, her head tilted slightly towards the musicians playing the music and when Zuko looks carefully, he sees a slight upturn of the corners of her mouth and thinks that she looks like she's having fun.

_#29 - Dance_  
Aang asks her to dance, and she accepts, her eyebrow raised skeptically, and Zuko is amused to see later that Toph is teaching the Avatar how to waltz properly.

_#20 - Talent_  
Azula has always had the natural bending talent and he always assumed that that was why he never really liked her, even though she was his sister; but Toph has natural bending talent, and so now he thinks that the reason he doesn't like Azula is simply because she's a crazy and manipulative bitch.

_#10 - Drink_  
One morning, Zuko walks out of his tent and is startled to see Toph sitting casually and nursing a cup of tea (jasmine tea, from the smell of it); she cocks an eyebrow at him and asks, "Tea?"

_#27 - Fall_  
Zuko has never seen her fall, and after a while, subconciously assumes she never will and so when she does, he reacts too late to help and feels immeasurably guilty as she cries out in pain when as something in her foot snaps.

_#02 - Hero_  
"My hero," Toph says dryly, as he carries her on his back through the murky swamp, her foot bandaged and set to the best of his ability.

_#30 - Body_  
Once, Zuko commented that he thought Toph was a boy in a girl's body; her retort was that she was pretty sure he was an ass in an idiot's body.

_#38 - Forever_  
Zuko isn't quite sure when it happened, but suddenly he's part of the group and he watches Toph make fun of Sokka and Aang laugh freely as Katara tries not to giggle at her brother's face and Zuko wants to stay here forever in this bubble of content happiness and comadrie.

_#25 - Mask_  
He finds it freaky and comforting at the same time that no matter what he wears or does, Toph always recognizes him.

_#36 - Laugh_  
When Toph laughs, not mockingly or fake or anything, but really, truly _laughs_ everyone stops to stare in surprise, and Zuko is slightly smug at being the one to elicit the sound (though he's not so proud that it happened because he walked into a tree while not paying attention).

_#18 - Dream_  
Zuko has a dream that his father beheads Uncle; when he tells Toph about it the next day, her face takes on the expression that he's guessing was on his when he woke up.

_#03 - Memory_  
Toph asks him about his mother and he brushes her off, not because he can't talk about it, but because, to his horror, the memory of the loving, warm mother is slowly but surely fading from his mind.

_#28 - Forgotten_  
Captured, bound, and chained, Zuko sits in a Fire Nation holding cell, wondering if he's been forgotten - he's never been happier to see anyone than the moment Toph breaks through the metal on the side of his cell and growls, "What kind of idiot are you?"

_#04 - Box_  
Bounty hunters are plentiful in the next town they come across, but they need more supplies; as a result, everyone gets disguises, but it's hard to disguise a blind girl who walks around barefoot (she refuses to wear any kind of footwear) and so the box Zuko carries into the town periodically mutters death threats at him.

_#40 - Whisper_  
"Zuko," Toph hisses into his ear, her palm pressed over his mouth, her other pulling him down with her, "Be quiet, I'm trying to hide!"

_#49 - Lock_  
Toph scowls at him from the other side of the portable cell that clatters over the rocky road, her hands and feet tightly bound and tells him, "This is all your fault."

_#15 - Silk_  
Toph hates wearing silk ("Too easily ripped," she tells him, a displeased look on her face, "You can't do anything in it.") and so he's surprised when she's forced to dress up, she chooses to wear a silk dress.

_#34 - Formal_  
It's bizarre to Zuko to see Toph act so ladylike and prim - he stares at the Lord and Lady Bei Fong and wonder what kind of evil mind control powers they have.

_#12 - Temptation_  
Toph's parents wheedle and beg and try to bribe her with pretty dolls and nice dresses, and Zuko wonders just who they think their daughter is.

_#31 - Sacred_  
Zuko always thought that the word of the adult was sacred, but now he watches the Bei Fongs fawn over their daughter and treat her like glass and try to hide her away and thinks that her parents are the one afflicted with lack of sight.

_#46 - Gravity_  
Since they've arrived, it feels like Toph slowly droops farther and farther towards earth and Zuko misses the sarcastic, bold girl he traveled with who seemed to be soaring to greatness - gravity never really seemed like such a problem before.

_#05 - Run_  
There is a huge commotion outside his room and Zuko rises to find out what it is when his door bangs open, and Toph announces, "It's time to go!" and drags him out the front door, and he's surprised at how fast she can run.

_#13 - View_  
They end up having to climb over a mountain and when they reach the top, Zuko exhales sharply and murmurs, "What a lovely view," and Toph scowls and quite assuredly, does not feel jealous.

_#41 - Wait_  
Toph taps her foot impatiently, and gives Zuko a sense of deja vu when she says, "Princess, I realize hygeine is very important to you, but if you don't wrap up this bath soon, I'm not about to wait for you."

_#50 - Breathe_  
As she lies next to him, listening to him breathe, Toph thinks that being stuck with him isn't so bad.

_#07 - Wings_  
Zuko notices that after they've left her parents, Toph seems upbeat and strangely optimistic - he supposes that she's a bird stretching her freed wings and wonders if she was like this the first time she left.

_#19 - Candle_  
"Happy birthday!" Toph announces, and gives him a slightly mushed and lopsided cake and Zuko hopes she got a discount for it; "It's not my birthday," he tells her, and she shrugs, indicating she doesn't really care and sticks a small candle into the cake the wrong way.

_#48 - Unknown_  
"Where do we go from here?" Zuko wonders; "I think," Toph says, "that the better question is, 'Where are we?'"

_#06 - Hurricane_  
They come across a town that looks like it's been ravaged by a hurricane; tress are uprooted, homes destroyed, and confused, wide-eyed people wandering around in a daze, but no hurricane has ever left scorch marks and blackened, burnt, and indecipherable objects lying in the streets arranged into the Fire Nation symbol.

_#44 - Hope_  
Toph insists on staying to help, so they stay and rebuild homes and dig graves and at the end of the day, Toph doesn't cry or mourn and she snarls, "I hope that we meet those bastards; they deserve their faces beaten in and..." but Zuko puts his hand on her shoulder and she quiets, suddenly very weary.

_#09 - Red_  
There is a slight pause, and Zuko begins laughing; Toph sees red and a block of earth throws him about ten feet and Zuko quiets because he knows she could've just as easily thrown him fifty.

_#35 - Fever_  
The first day, he complained of a headache, and Toph was unsympathetic ("Boo-hoo, Princess. Live with it."); the second day, it got worse, and he was cold even though the weather was warm and Toph actually got a bit concerned ("Stupid, lay down and rest if you're sick, I'm not going to carry you."); the third, he was sweaty and Toph confined him to the bed after a nearby midwife confirmed that yes, he had a fever ("If you were sick, you should have said so!" she shouted at him, making him groan and roll over and pull a pillow over his head) and he bemoaned his immune system and hoped he wouldn't have weird dreams again.

_#17 - Promise_  
"Don't-" Zuko squinted blearily at the figure that seemed to fade in and out of his vision, "Please, don't leave me alone again," he whimpered; Toph sat next to him and touched his face uncertainly, and whispered, "I won't - I promise."

_#43 - Search_  
"What took you so long?" Toph demands when Appa lands heavily beside her and Zuko, and Aang rubbed his head sheepishly.

_#26 - Ice_  
When they go to the South Pole, the ice is slippery and Toph slips on it all the time and complains about not being able to see; as a result, Zuko follows her around (to keep her from falling) and always has one hand on her elbow (to lead her around) and everyone thinks it's strange how natural it seems.

_#08 - Cold_  
Toph shivers, and Zuko summons a small flame to at least warm her ice-cold fingers ("Stupid Katara," she grumbles, "stupid Sokka, having to go back home for 'one last time' because that's not depressing and morbid _at all_...).

_#32 - Farewells_  
They ask her about it, but she refuses to do it - "Farewells are for people who aren't coming back," she says angrily, and stalks away.

_#45 - Eclipse_  
The sun rises but already a dark shadow is creeping over it ("Ready?" Toph whispers to him, and he nods), and the tense atmosphere seems to be pressing down on them oppressively ("Good," she says, and makes a decent effort at a condescending look to cover her fear, "You're no good to us if you just run away.") and he takes ahold of her hand, and waits for everything to start.  



	2. Fifty Sentences for Toph/Zuko

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toph and Zuko have been captured. She’s not happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took some liberties with the storyline (read _totally ignored it in favor of ridding self of plot bunny_ ). As far as I know, none of these things happened and probably will not or even have chances of happening.

Title: Captured  
Characters: Zuko, Toph (kind of Zuko/Toph?)  
Genre: Humor  
Disclaimer: I don’t own anything.  
Summary: Toph and Zuko have been captured. She’s not happy.  


  
“This is all your fault.” Toph is leveling a fairly impressive glower at him, and Zuko reluctantly has to agree with her. Though he certainly isn’t going to admit that to _her_. He scowls back.

“Your face will get stuck like that,” Toph snaps at him. Zuko wonders how she knows – maybe it’s the vibrations she is picking up. Maybe she just knows him so well by now that she has correctly figured out what he has done.

He idly wonders if how he feels about that and decides to not think about it.

“Like you’d notice,” he shoots back, irritated.

The fury of her glare, oddly, lessens slightly at his words and a hint of wry amusement works its way into her expression. Really, Zuko thinks, only she would get _less_ angry at him when he insults her. “Well Princess,” Toph remarks dryly, using her nickname for him that she knows he hates, “At least I didn’t light up half of a forest while _trying to lay low._ ”

Zuko’s scowl deepens at the reminder and he mutters, “You’re an earthbender. You couldn’t do it anyway.”

“Oh yeah?” He isn’t really all that surprised to hear the challenging undertone in her voice; Zuko supposes that he should have expected it. “I bet I could.”

“Hm.” He grunts skeptically.

“I could!” she insists, “And I wouldn’t even need to firebend. That’s what matches are for!”

Damn, she had a point. Zuko berates himself for forgetting that there _are_ other ways to produce fire; it’s been too long since he’s ever needed to do something as menial as lighting a match when he wants fire. Toph accurately guesses the reason for his sudden silence. “Ha!” she crows, “See? I’m right! You’re wrong! Silly Princess.”

“Annoying brat.” It comes out automatically, and Zuko wonders what it is about talking with Toph that inevitably leads to childish exchanges of insults.

“Bastard.”

“Midget.”

“Asshole.”

“Helpless baby.” Chagrined, Zuko winces as soon as the words come out of his mouth.

Toph seems stunned for a second, her jaw working furiously before she snarls, “I’m not helpless!” He remains silent when he can’t think of anything to say and watches as she curls up in the corner of the prison cell, looking murderous.

The silence is unnerving and Zuko feels the need to say something. “I’m sorry,” he tells her sincerely.

“Go to hell.” Toph grumbles, but seems to ease up a bit.

The corner of his mouth quirks up in an almost smile at her words (though if she calls him on it, he’ll deny it vehemently) and he settles comfortably against the rough wall of the cell. He considers Toph thoughtfully, earning himself an odd look.

“What?” she demands.

Zuko shrugs. “Just thinking that you’re not so bad to be stuck with.”

Toph blinks.

“Whatever you say,” she says doubtfully.

He quickly suppresses a grin and it remains quiet until the next guard comes around and is stupid enough to be tricked into letting them out – _Your crazy sister’s gonna be pissed_ , Toph informs him gleefully as they escape and Zuko can’t help but agree silently as he disarms another guard.

Azula was going to throw a bitch fit.

...Damn, Toph was rubbing off on him.


	3. Palacekeeping (or How to Piss Azula Off)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Avatar gang is visiting Zuko. Toph and Sokka are drunk. Azula… is not having a good day. The tables are turned in this AU version of what could have happened after the war.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was kind of cruel in this fic. It's interesting.

Title: Palacekeeping (or How to Piss Azula Off)  
Characters: Toph, Azula, Zuko, Avatar gang; Mentions of Kataang and… TyLee/Sokka  
Genre: Humor  
Disclaimer: I don’t own anything.  


_Crash._

“Ah, shit.” A female voice says, and judging from how young it sounds and the language used, the former Fire Nation princess guesses that it’s the blind earth bender girl.

Azula’s eyebrow twitches in annoyance as she tries not to imagine what fragile, probably very expensive something has been broken. She just _knows_ that Zuko will find some way to blame her. She feels sickened at the way she is easily controlled by her brother, who was once the little boy who couldn’t even stand up to her.

Now she’s the one who caters to _his royal highness, the Fire Lord’s_ every whim as the “royal household advisor.” A glorified name for the official “housekeeper.” Azula feels sickened as she remembers begging for mercy at Zuko’s feet for protection –after the war, everyone knew who she was and what she’d done and Azula had more than her fair share of people who wanted to kill her. He’d promised to protect his “dear sister” as long as she complied with his wishes. Which is how Azula ended up here, taking care of a home that doesn’t even welcome her anymore and doing a job she’d always thought was disgusting.

Azula is pretty sure that he invites his _friends_ (she sneers at the thought; what a weakling, to have friends like _them_ ) just to piss her off. She looks out of the study where she is dusting to see the earth bender girl ( _what was her name again?_ ) looking bemused, standing in a pool of water and crushed flowers, as another girl carefully tries to lead her around the dangerous pieces of broken porcelain ( _oh Agni, that had been one of the most beautiful and priceless of their vases_ ) and the Avatar hovering nervously around both of them.

“Toph,” the other girl hisses angrily. _Ah, yes,_ Azula thinks to herself, _that’s her name. Now what was the other one’s name?_ She’s pretty sure it starts with a K or a T sound…. Hell, whatever. KT works for now.

“It’s not my fault!” Toph protests, “That crazy bitch makes me wear these damn shoes in here!” Azula twitches again, at the reference to herself.

“You shouldn’t have drunk so much at that party,” the Avatar says worriedly.

“Eh, shut up Twinkle-Toes.” Sokka (the only name she remembers because Ty Lee had a crush on him and _just wouldn't shut up about him_ ; why him, Azula will never understand) slurs, stumbling into the hallway as well.

“Yeah!” Toph chimes in, as KT finally gets her to a safe area. She pauses. “Hey, wait, that’s my nickname for Aang! You can’t steal it!”

“Why not?” Sokka demands, before stumbling a bit on the thick carpet. Aang catches him easily but Sokka waves him away, still focused on Toph. “We can’t share?”

Toph sticks her tongue out at him, a gesture unbefitting a sixteen year old lady, in Azula’s opinion. “No. Think of your own nickname.”

Sokka actually stops to think about it. His brow furrows in concentration. “…What about I call him brother-in-law?” Both Aang and Katara turn interesting shades of red and Azula imagines that she can feel the heat from their faces from where she is. _Well, that’s an interesting development,_ she muses.

“That doesn’t work either!” Toph argues, ignoring their reactions, “That’s a title, not a nickname!”

“It’s the same thing!”

“No, it’s not!”

“Yes, it is!”

“No, it’s not!”

“Yes!”

“No!”

“Yes!”

“No!”

Azula grits her teeth impatiently at the childish argument and is about to step forward when her brother walks into the hallway and stops to stare, effectively shutting Sokka up. Toph's face morphs into a confused expression when there is no answer, which begins to clear and turn into a triumphant look when she seems to decide that she has won. Sokka twitches and opens his mouth again, regardless of the company, when Zuko interrupts him.

“What is going on here?” Zuko asks tentatively, as if he’s not sure he really wants to know and he probably doesn’t.

Toph whirls around towards his voice and nearly topples over another vase, which KT quickly rights. Azula thinks that maybe she’s warming up to the water tribe girl.

“Princess?” Toph demands. “Where the hell are you?” She swears in frustration. “Damn these shoes!” She leans over and pulls the offending items off and throws them angrily at the ground. KT makes a sound of indignant surprise when one of the shoes bounces off the carpet and smack her in the leg.

“Sorry Katara,” Toph says, without actually sounding all that apologetic. _Right, Katara,_ Azula thinks, then decides that it’s too troublesome to remember the whole thing and KT is easier to remember anyway.

Sokka, meanwhile, has taken it upon himself to greet Zuko since everyone else seems to be occupied. He stumbles over to Zuko and slaps him on the back in a brotherly fashion. Zuko gives him a disgruntled look and Sokka just laughs it off. “Guess what, oh-prickly-one?” the water tribe warrior asks, and plows on without waiting for an answer, “My sister’s getting married! To the Avatar! Who’d a thunk?” He receives a deadpan look, and Azula agrees with her brother – even _she_ knew that throughout the war, the Avatar and KT had some serious UST or something going on.

“He asked her today!” Toph exclaims excitedly, “So we went out to celebrate!” Her expression abruptly darkens a bit as she watches the couple try to sneak away and she says, “But Twinkle-Toes and the Sugar Queen wouldn’t drink anything, so it was kind of pointless.” Azula wonders why they expected them to; the Avatar was raised by monks and the other girl seems too prudish to drink.

Zuko, however, doesn’t seem all that surprised. If anything, his expression is wry. “So you went and got drunk yourselves anyway.”

“Damn straight!” Toph nods, swaying a bit, “Can’t let them ruin all of our fun, right, meathead?”

“Right!” Sokka cheers. “…wait, what did you say?”

“And then,” Toph says, pointedly ignoring his question, “we realized, ‘Oh, what about Zuko? He should be celebrating with us!’ So we came here to get you. And the vase broke. Not our fault by the way. You should have been more prepared for situations like this.” She nods, convinced of her own faultlessness. Sokka’s mutter of “ _Our_ fault?” is ignored as well.

Zuko's tone, if possible, becomes drier. “Thank you for remembering me,” he says blandly, “I’ll be sure to relay that to my household advisor.”

“While you’re doing that you should talk to her about the shoes rule,” Toph informs him, “The crazy bitch doesn’t realize how that rule impacts other people.” Actually, Azula does, but she created that rule just to piss Toph off. She likes the feeling of vindictive satisfaction in seeing the other girl run into walls once in a while.

“Don’t call her that,” Zuko says mildly, probably more out of obligation than out of brotherly concern.

“Are you defending her?” Toph demands and walks towards him menacingly – or at least Azula guesses that was what she was aiming for, but instead the earth bender takes a step and manages to slip and fall on her face in a spectacular display of grace.

“Toph!” the waterbender gasps. Sokka, leaning most of his weight on Zuko, nearly falls over as well when the Fire Lord starts forward to help her, but Aang beats him to her side.

“Get the hell off,” Toph mutters at him when he tries to give her a hand and pushes herself up. Standing upright again, Toph grins at Zuko and asks, “So, you coming?”

The Avatar and his sweetheart give Zuko _please, help us!_ looks and Azula smirks as she imagines the stories that Toph and Sokka are telling about them to basically anyone who bothers to listen. Which is probably quite a few people, considering that it’s _the Avatar_ and his new fiancée they’re talking about and the fact that it’s _the_ Toph Bei Fong and the fiancée’s brother that are telling the stories.

The group has made quite a name for themselves for what they did in the war. Azula convinces herself that it is _not_ a sour tone she is using as she thinks that and that such an emotion is below her.

All four of them are looking at Zuko expectantly. The Avatar and whatshername ( _crap, Azula’s forgotten her name again_ ) are wearing matching pleading looks and that is just so adorable that Azula feels sick to her stomach. Toph is smirking and giving Zuko a look that basically says _no matter what you say, you’re coming with us_ and possibly because of that, the water tribe warrior wears a bored expression of someone waiting for the inevitable.

“…Fine,” Zuko says, and Toph lets out a whoop.

“Lets go!” she cries, and everyone acquiesces and begins heading out of the hallway, Sokka marching an unwilling Zuko in front. Toph brings up the rear and before she turns the corner, she pauses and turns around with a grin on her face.

“Hey Azula,” Toph calls, far too cheerfully. Azula’s eyes widen and her mouth opens to say something – and she promptly forgets what it was when the other girl calmly pushes another vase off a table. “Have a nice day!” Toph finishes, and Azula wants to smack the smug look off the other girl’s face.

Someone laughs ( _sounds like the water tribe boy, but if it’s her brother, Azula hopes he goes straight to hell, the bastard_ ) and Toph almost _bounces_ away and disappears around the corner, leaving Azula shaking in anger.

Agni, she really _hates_ it when they come to visit.


	4. In The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pain and suffering; cycles of life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the_glow_worm for avatarflashfic on LJ. This was me experimenting with my writing - there's a lot of angst coming up, guys.

Title: In The End  
Characters: Katara, Zuko, Mai, Azula  
Rating: PG-13  
Summary: Pain and suffering; cycles of life.  
Warning: Character death, angst.  


 

 _I tried so hard_  
And got so far  
But in the end  
It doesn’t even matter  
\- "In The End" - Linkin Park

 

  
I. Death

Azula inhales and exhales shallowly, carefully; everything throbs in sync with the small breaths and she feels herself getting light headed from the lack of sufficient oxygen. She knows better than to take deeper breaths though, now. She’d learned her lesson, the painful way, when her wounds opened deeper than she could have imagined and pain had ricocheted throughout her body.

Her vision blurs when she shifts slightly to get a slightly more comfortable sitting position against the tree. When it clears, she is again looking at a battlefield strewn with dead, rotting bodies, and blood everywhere in sight. Her body aches, reminding her of her injuries and her own contribution to the blood on the field, and Azula grimaces as she imagines the blood soaking into her expensive, fancy robes. Father would be displeased.

If he were still alive, that is. Azula allows herself a second of remorse for his passing, before being swept up in the feeling of triumph. She has had _her_ vengeance. Azula smirks slightly at the thought, remembering shrieks of horror, of _pain_ ; of the smell of Avatar’s burning flesh and wide milky-green eyes losing its passion. Her smile falters suddenly as she also remembers the flashing, blue eyes and the feel of a waterwhip ripping through her skin; karma is a cruel bitch indeed.

Layers of gravel crunch under the pressure of a heavy foot, and Azula looks over to see the water tribe boy ( _man_ ) tiredly make his way toward her, his clothes in tatters and the war paint on his face half gone. The other half is smeared, and for a moment, Azula’s vision blurs again, and it’s monstrous and leering, _almost_ truly intimidating – but the moment passes.

“You’re still alive,” he says, less of a question than a statement, and his voice is low and gravelly and Azula gleefully thinks of the grief churning below his skin. _She_ caused that, and that makes him _hers_. She’s marked him and Azula’s heart bubbles with an unholy delight at the thought that he will never be the same again.

"Disappointed?" Azula asks, smirking, but she hisses quietly at the resulting stab of pain in her abdomen, “Or are you here to finish the job your pitiful sister didn’t finish?” She tilts her head down as much as she dares to examine her own injuries, and bites back a hysterical giggle at all the _blood –_ “Vengence does have a name,” she whispers, almost reverently.

“And thy name is Katara,” and her lips twist into a horrible smile when she hears the hollow, defeated voice of that water tribe peasant ( _nothing better than the bloodsoaked dirt beneath her heel, even as she lies dying on the ground_ ) add onto her words.

Azula wants to laugh at his face, because in it she can see that this has broken him more than seeing the blood from _their_ battered broken bodies on her hands ( _and she doesn’t feel regretful at all to remember that it is her that ended the young, promising lives, barely matured, barely_ lived; _the Avatar and his little earthbending bitch, dead by her doing, and her name will live on in history forever_ ).

“No,” he responds wearily, and she sneers at him.

“Why not?” Azula asks, lip curling, “I know you want to.” She spreads her arms out, ignoring the pain and rendering herself vulnerable to any attack he can think of. “Don’t you want me to die for my sins?” Her voice is cruel, mocking, _amused:_ “I killed them. You _watched_ me kill them and I enjoyed it – and then I turned your sister into a murderer.”

He doesn’t deign that with a response, but Azula smirks when she sees that his hands are clenched so tightly his knuckles are white, and he’s shaking. She doesn’t really think he’ll do it, but she’s not afraid if he does; she has already accepted Death as her mistress.

“Come on, little boy,” she taunts, “Kill me. When your dear, sweet sister comes to her senses and realizes what she’s done, don’t you want to be able to take away the guilt of at least one death?” The girl is tainted now, Azula knows, and one life won’t make a difference, but Azula is dying and she feels a cold, cruel sense of achievement to know that she can - _is_ taking them down to hell with her.

“Katara-” his voice is forcibly even, but he still chokes on her name, “She’s not my sister anymore. I can’t help her now.” A look of despair crosses his face at his own words, and Azula lets a peal of horrible laughter escape, despite the screams of protest from her body.

“Poor, conflicted hero,” she mocks him, “The responsibility falls heavy upon your shoulders, doesn’t it?” She cackles again, thinking of her own brother. “You can run, but you can't hide, Zuzu,” Azula laughs, hysteria tickling her throat and lacing into her voice as her vision begins to turn dark, “She’s coming for you.” Azula closes her eyes in surrender, even as a self satisfied smile spreads across her face, and she adds, viciously, “I’ll see you in hell.”

And Sokka stands there and watches as she slumps forward, unconscious, and with a sick feeling in his stomach, he waits for her to die.

 

 

II. Justice

Red stains her vision and she lets out a piercing scream of rage; no, not rage, because she knows her heart and it is cold with justice, not anger. It is justice that fuels her as she tracks down the prince and his consort, justice that banishes the exhaustion in her muscles that threatens to overcome her.

Justice reminds her of her righteousness, reminds her with flashes of Aang’s mutilated body, scorched and burned beyond recognition ( _he had been smiling tiredly, the Fire Lord was defeated and it was over, but a flash of light and she was too late, too slow, too shocked to stop it and he is gone forever_ ) and Toph’s face is whiter than usual and her mouth will be forever frozen in a smirk of triumph, even as her eyes stare blankly towards the sky ( _silent, and that is how Katara knows Toph will never see her real mother ever again, because Toph is many things, but **quiet** will never be one of them_).

She tracks them and sometimes she even sniffs the air; Katara thinks she smells their fear and it soothes the justice in her heart that cries out for blood to avenge the blood of her own.

A flash of red and black, and Katara whirls around. Zuko stands before her, white faced and shaking slightly, and she smiles frighteningly.

“Pray,” she advises him coolly, and with a wave of her hand, he is on his knees and screaming. Her conscience screams along with him as she viciously crushes it _(him)_.

Justice does not give her victims a second thought, hears them suffer and laughs without mirth. She has no empathy, no emotion, no heart to be swayed. She is a cold mistress to serve, Katara thinks, but she has already chosen.

There is no turning back.

 

 

III. Love

 _Mai,_ he thinks wildly, and hopes that she gets away in time. His limbs are no longer his own to control and he feels the blood in his body rebel against him. Zuko knows his time is limited and he dares not waste time on thoughts that are not important. _Don’t die,_ he begs her in his mind.

Zuko falls to his knees as his body submits to someone else’s control, a mockery of a submissive pose to his gods and red explodes in his vision. He gags in revulsion as he realizes it is _his_ blood that stains his vision, his hands – his head spins: he feels faint. Zuko’s last, desperate, but reassuring thought is, ‘ _this is for her.’_

Justice shrieks in resentment at the contented smile that crosses Zuko’s face before he dies.

 

 

IV. Fear

Her breath is hot against her knees and her back is cramping up, but fear and the animalistic instinct to survive keeps her from shifting a single inch. Mai hears him scream, and squeezes her eyes shut, but imagines the scene as if it is playing on the insides of her eyelids ( _torturing him – **her** \- and she gags at the images her mind conjures up_) and her sob is muffled when she shoves a hand in her own mouth.

There is no honor, no dignity in the mistress that rules her, but she still breathes and she still remembers and she still _loves_. The tears stream down her face and she chokes silently on her despair.

Justice hovers nearby, waiting.

The tide will change.

 

 

V. Life

A beautiful baby is born to a water tribe couple today. It cries and it cries, and the anguished mother frets as she can’t soothe her newborn child, but the father is disturbed as he realizes it sounds as if the babe is screaming in grief.


	5. family (<i>more than blood, cut like knives</i>)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Family, gone wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for imadra_blue for avatarflashfic on LJ. I don't know why it's so depressing. I just went through a phase or something.

Title: family ( _more than blood, cut like knives_ )  
Pairing/Characters: Zuko, Toph, Azula, Aang, Mai (Zuko/Toph; implied Zuko/Azula, past Zuko/Mai, Mai/Azula, Aang/Katara)  
Rating: R  
Summary: Family, gone wrong.  
Warnings: Character death; angst, incest.  


_"You can't escape it, Zuko; you can't run from family," she says, and smiles, blood painting her mouth and chin._

 

-

 

She comes back for him on a sunny day. It seems horrifically inappropriate.

Zuko carefully steps over the rubble that litters the ground, the result of creating the makeshift door made in the stone wall of the prison, and he blinks. It's too bright.

There's a familiar figure standing outside, one that he's been expecting since feeling the unnatural rumble of the building and the ground.

"Toph," Zuko says, just to hear himself speak. His voice is gravelly and rough with the combination of use and overuse, and maybe her eyes narrow a little bit, but she doesn't comment on it.

She steps forward, and Toph reaches out her hands to inspect his face, his arms, his chest; her lips purse, and the hand that she has wrapped around his wrist ( _thin enough now that even Toph's tiny hands can wrap all the way around_ ) tightens.

"You look like shit," she tells him bluntly, "Let's go. The Avatar is waiting for us."

 

-

 

Zuko dreams.

 

-

 

_"Zuko, Zuko, Zuko," she chides him, her red, red lips curved in - a smile? It's filled with humor, albeit dark humor, so Zuko calls it a smile and then has to search desperately for something else to think of as the edge of the blade digs into his stomach. "You never do learn."_

"Azula," he spits, and the twisted expression on her face fills with glee.

"Oh, you still remember me," she gasps, mockingly surprised, touched, and even goes as far as to place a hand - the one not holding the knife - over her heart overdramatically; "I was afraid our last... session _might have addled your brains. You were so very incoherent afterwards. I was afraid I might have broken you."_

'It'll take more than that to break me,' he thinks, but doesn't say; still, she sees the message in the hate in his eyes and laughs throatily as she drags the knife across his abdomen.

"Oh, dear brother, don't doubt my abilities; I can break you, and I will _\- unless you give me what I want." Azula presses her lips tenderly on his jaw, a cruel mockery of a lover's kiss, and Zuko recoils in disgust. She only leans in closer, and he feels her smirk against his neck._

"What are you doing?" he asks, and makes another futile attempt to pull out of his bonds, but the chains hold tight.

The knife drops to the floor between them, and Azula places a hand on both sides of his face. "Won't you play with me, dear brother?" she whispers in his ear, "A game. It'll be fun."

"Stop," Zuko rasps, "Stop, this is- this is wrong _."_

"Give me what I want, Zuko," she murmurs softly. A hand slides from his cheek down his neck, strokes his bare collarbone, slips down his chest and keeps going further.

It's times like this that he nearly tells her where (Toph _) the Avatar (_ home _) is._

 

-

 

"It's done," Zuko says, and the other man blinks at him, and sags forward as the tension leaks from his shoulders.

"Ten years," Aang says heavily, and lets his head fall forward, his forehead connecting with a dull _thump_ with the table.

"Hm," Zuko grunts noncommittally.

"I should have ended it by now," Aang mumbles, or at least Zuko thinks that's what he said.

"Hm," he responds again.

"Could've saved a lot of people." Aang rolls his head to the side so that his cheek is resting on the table top. His eyes grow distant, and he stares thoughtfully at a picture frame hung on the wall. Zuko knows without looking that it's a sketch of four young children, all smiling idiotically at the artist; their faces are bright with innocence, with hope - with _life_. It's ironic, maybe, in a way.

"Maybe," Zuko says.

"Might've been able to save him," Aang muses, "Save _her_." He sounds wistful, but the jarring pain that used to come in his voice when he talked about his old friends is gone. It's both a relief and a shock to Zuko, and he glances at the picture.

"You think?" he asks. The eyes of a dead woman look back at him, but she's smiling.

Aang shrugs. "Maybe."

The picture reminds Zuko of three things; innocence, friendship, family. He looks at Aang, and is reminded of loss.

Zuko tastes ash in the air.

"I'm sorry," the Avatar says quietly.

He doesn't say anything at first.

"You should be," Zuko says finally, and walks out.

 

-

 

 _He wants to turn away from the sight, but he can't; the guard holds his head forward, makes sure his eyes are still open. Zuko knows in his mind that_ he _left_ her _, but his heart remembers that he loved her once, and it aches to see this; in that moment, Zuko has never hated Azula more._

His sister pulls away from Mai, and Mai can't look at him, her lips swollen from kissing - kissing Azula _. Mai doesn't say sorry, doesn't even look sorry, just hunches her shoulders inward like she's trying to fold inward on herself and averts her eyes._

"She's mine now," Azula taunts him, and when he tries to look away again, she grabs his chin so they're looking eye-to-eye. "She's mine," his sister repeats, then smiles. "And you're mine too."

 

-

 

He wakes, and in the darkness, he sees the unmistakable outline of Toph leaning over him.

"You're not okay," she tells him, voice slightly slurred from exhaustion, "You fuckin' retard."

Zuko closes his eyes again.

 

-

 

 _"You had Mother," Azula hisses, "You had Mother - she loved you best, loved you_ only _\- what about me?"_

"You had Father," he points out, and she laughs.

"You're such a fool," she says contemptuously, and Zuko screams as lightning erupts from her fingers and courses through his body.

 

-

 

Toph insists on sparring with him first thing in the morning.

"Is that all you've got?" she taunts him, and laughs, the sound high and exhilarated. "C'mon, dumbass, I know you can do better than that-" Zuko growls in frustration, and his next jab makes it past her defenses for once, but there's too much behind this hit, and his fist connects with her ribs harder than he'd meant to, so Toph's words end with an "- _oomph_."

She topples backward, winded, but Zuko's _there_ , arms wrapped around her carefully, muttering, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," before she can hit the ground. She's probably about to smack him, because ( _he can practically hear the thoughts streaming through her head_ ) fuck it all, he's only been gone four ( _long_ ) months, she hasn't turned into a porcelain doll or anything in that time - but she doesn't resist as he lets his arms tighten around her anyway and tries to muffle his sobs into her shoulder, apologizing incoherently for something, _everything_ , and he thinks his tears are probably soaking through her shirt.

"What the hell, Zuko?" Toph asks, but her arms are wrapping around his shoulders, letting him take whatever comfort he can from her.

 

-

 

_"I'm sorry," Zuko says abruptly one day, and the finger trailing across one of the scars on his back pauses._

"Don't be," Azula tells him, and digs her fingernails into his skin.

He wonders what she thinks he's apologizing for, even as he has to clench his jaw painfully to keep from screaming.

He wonders what he _thinks he's apologizing for._

 

-

 

"Toph," Aang says, and because they're so intimately close, Zuko can feel her body stiffen in surprise at the intrusion. His voice is cool, professional; nothing in it belies the fact that they were once close friends.

Zuko releases her, and moves away just in time to see Toph's throat working as she swallows down the automatic responses that she wants to spit out. She's told him about it, angry whispers in the dead of night about how she's going to tell him exactly what she thinks of the Avatar, but even though Toph is brash and rough around the edges, she can't stand to hurt her friend, no matter how much he's hurt her.

And Zuko remembers how much it hurt her when the Avatar froze her out, too preoccupied with his own guilt and shame and grief to remember that she'd loved the watertribe siblings too.

Toph straightens to face Aang. "Yes?" Her voice is clipped, professional. It makes Zuko want to wince and he turns his face away from the scene.

He ignores their voices as they continue their conversation, the tone of their interaction polite and strained. His stomach roils.

Toph's hand curls around his, and he sighs quietly to himself. They're broken, but they can sooth each other's ragged edges.

It's enough for now, but Zuko feels it in his gut; this can't go on forever.

 

-

 

_There's blood, everywhere, on the walls, on the floor, on his clothes, and there's a word for this; Fratricide, he thinks, and feels sick. Zuko clutches his stomach with one hand and places one hand on the wall to keep himself from toppling over as he retches empty air._

Azula chuckles darkly, the soft, rippling sound broken by her hacking and uneven gulps of air. He turns back around to look at her, takes a few staggering steps forward, and then collapses to his knees by her broken body.

She laughing at him. "It's in the blood," she says, and one shaking hand raises to stroke his cheek, smearing her blood _over it, and Zuko flinches when her fingernails catch on one of his open wounds. "It's in the family."_

"No," Zuko says, shaking his head, "No, I'm not a part of this anymore, I left _you-"_

"You think that matters?" she asks, and hisses in pain when her hand falls to the ground with a slap. "You can't escape it, Zuko; you can't run from family," Azula says, and smiles, blood painting her mouth and chin.

He jerks away from her, crawls away, shakes his head 'no, no, no,' and she's laughing at him again, but chokes, and then her gasping chuckles fade away to wheezing.

Zuko feels sick. "I didn't mean to," he whispers.

"Don't worry, brother," Azula rasps, smirking, "We'll see each other again on the other side, won't we?" She starts to chuckle again before she draws in one deep, shuddering breath, and her body stills.

Zuko turns away in revulsion.

She's right.

Fratricide earns him the same special place in hell that parricide does.

 

-

 

"Goodbye," Zuko whispers, and slides a note into her fingers. She mumbles quietly and, asleep, Toph clutches her fingers around the note and turns over, curling in on herself and then promptly starting snoring. She won't be able to read it herself, but he knows there are people in the camp more than willing to help her.

He presses his forehead against hers, just breathing; it's not loving, and it's not romantic, but it's _intimate_ \- it's just sharing warmth, and comfort, and Zuko just stays there for a few more seconds, reluctant to leave.

Finally, Zuko steps away, and walks out of the tent. Maybe _they_ couldn't be saved, but he can try to save _her._

There is wetness on his face. It's not raining, and Zuko touches his eyes, just to confirm that he isn't crying. He's not.

The liquid he swipes from his cheek tastes salty, and inside the tent, Toph's even breathing turns ragged with quiet grief.

And still, Zuko walks away into the night.


End file.
